


Ivy Lane

by goodonebrea



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Female Characters, Female Friendship, Female Protagonist, Female-Centric, Gas Mask, POV Female Character, Post-War, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 08:18:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8155426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodonebrea/pseuds/goodonebrea
Summary: What happened to the people of Arcadia?





	1. Helena- Born under a bad sign

Are you there, God?   
It’s not like I had wanted to get caught. I just happened to be in the wrong place at exactly the wrong time.   
Pressing myself flat against the wall, I slowly peeked around the corner. I shouldn’t have come, the Laners had told me that I risked getting caught going back today. But me being my cocky self I disregarded them and went off on my own. I was pretty good at sneaking in and out of the city without being seen, probably had something to do with dressing like I was from the great depression, the ugly duckling of Arcadia. Its city square was full of figures in gas masks. They walked in a seemingly trained manner; single file.  
There were armed “escorts” patrolling every exit out of Arcadia. I’m not sure whether I would call executing people on the streets something an escort does, but that’s just my opinion. I leant further around the corner to try and get a better view, but misjudged the distance and fell, straight out of the alleyway.   
This is why they don’t let me out often. I picked myself up off the ground and ran back into the alley, quickly grabbing my bag and swinging it over my shoulders. Sprinting down the alley I prayed to whatever phony god was listening that this did not have a dead end. Literally.   
But alas, my bad luck was not about to turn. Rounding a corner I came face to – the back of their masks; there were a group of Arcadians. Shocked I stumbled, falling onto the gravel. I quickly glanced up; they were huddled in front of my only exit. I noticed a large garbage bin just as I began to hear the enforcers getting closer, their feet hammering the ground as they approached. Without much thought I got up and ran as fast as I could towards the bin and threw myself over the edge just as they came around the corner. I landed hard, it was empty, something that we would never see in the Lane. If I ever got so desperate that I had to live in Arcadia I would be sure to rent out one of these lovely bins for the right price.  
“The Object is in sight!” I heard one of the enforcers yell. I assumed they were talking to the crowd of Arcadians gathered in the alley, unless they had somehow developed x-ray vision and could see me through the bin. But I doubted it; they don’t allow any mutations to stick around for long. That’s why they’d made Ivy Lane; a place for unwanted, broken children. We were the rats of Arcadia, meant to die out in sewers instead we plague their city.  
From my point of view I couldn’t see much of what was going on. But from what I could tell the Arcadians were startled out of their conversation.  
“Here!” A loud cough came from the crowd.  
“Where is The Object?”  
“Uh, The Object has been displaced” Shuffling. Man those kids didn’t seem to know procedure.   
“Affirmative, diffuse younglings.”  
“Yes, Hail Arcadia!” They all shouted in unison. I rolled my eyes, did they not care that they were blatantly ripping off-  
“The Object has escaped. We must return without her, we shall face imminent removal.”   
The sounds of their distant marching soon faded to nothing. Silence.   
Now I had to get out of the city. I dug through my bag until I found my mask. I hated wearing it, but desperate times call for desperate measures, right? I pulled it over my head and covered my face.   
Suffocating was the only word I believed got even close to describing how it felt to wear the mask. It was like drowning- and yes I know what that feels like- the loss of peripheral vision and hearing made me agitated. It was heavy and weighed down my head, the heat of Arcadia made the mask stick to my face.  
I didn’t need this gas mask to breathe out here and it only helped to freak me out further. Taking a deep breath I pulled myself up and peeked out over the edge of the bin, nothing. I hoisted myself up and jumped out of the bin, shucking my bag up higher on my back, I turned to survey the alley. One exit, where I had just run from, no doubt there would be guards watching every alley way by now, so I only had one other option; up. Looking at the bin, I estimated that it was about 3 metres between the bin and the window ledge, I could totally make that. I ran at full speed towards the bin, jumping onto the half shut lid and propelling myself up to the window. My hands grasp the window ledge and I hang there for a second. Looking up through the mask I can see that the window has been smashed, easy entry. Hoisting myself up, I fall through the window. God, that was stupid, I rubbed at my elbows, I was definitely gonna’ have some colourful bruises later.  
Darkness, shuffling around I reach into my backpack and dig for my lighter. I flick my finger over the trigger, it sparks once, twice, please don’t tell me it’s out. As if only to defy me the lighter quickly flickered and illuminated the room. A kitchen, jackpot! Everything seems to be in great condition, but all things in Arcadia are compared to the Lane. Everything was set out as if the residents had tunnel vision, which I guess is essentially true. There was a round table with four chairs surrounding it, but I wasn’t interested in that. I rush towards the pantry, opening it I find stacks upon stacks of canned beans. Oh, I was gonna’ be freakin’ worshipped now. Swinging around my bag, I begin to stuff the cans into it, I would have to come back again and get the rest. With my bag filled with as many cans as I can possible fit and weighing about that of a small child, I venture into the other rooms. They must’ve had a nice lounge room before it was ransacked. There’s a hole in the wall were a TV was mounted, picture hooks are placed everywhere, all the things you need to be a happy family in Arcadia. Speaking of Arcadia, their logo is painted right above a bedroom doorway, in messy, black spray paint.

Before I even think to question it, I’m heading into the room.   
“Oh God.” This is probably the only time I have ever been grateful for the mask (besides the whole not being killed on-sight thing). The room is dark; my lighter casts a soft glow around my hand. I stumble through the door jamb and the lighter falls to the ground. Oh no, no, I scramble to the floor feeling for the lighter, my hands swipe through something sticky before I find it. I flick the spark wheel, c’mon work damn it! I press harder, the flame flares and burns my thumb, it takes a lot to not just drop the damn thing again. I shine my lighter towards the ground to reveal what my hand had trailed through; blood. Oh.   
There are two bodies, no trace of ever having worn a mask, they’re like me then. See, wearing a rubber mask all the time tends to leave people with markings and imprints. The heat of Arcadia’s factories and machinery makes the masks stick and melt into your skin. One time I was forced to stay in Arcadia over night, I sat up on top of a building, swinging my legs over the edge. It had been so unbelievably hot, breathing through the mask made my face flush red and I could feel it becoming blotchy with welts. It had been too much to handle, I reached up and tried to pull off the mask. It had stuck and I had had the most terrifying moment of my life, I picked at the edges, my breath coming fast and fogging up the glass eyes of the mask. Finally ripping off the mask I gasped for air and collapsed onto the concrete of the building. Yeah, I totally cried.   
Why were they here in Arcadia if they didn’t have masks?   
The house was a mess, ripped apart is the only way I could describe it. It looks like they struggled; the bed is flipped on its side, the couple are thrown behind it, attacked in the night then, a coward’s way of doing it. They’ve been shot in both eyes, now resembling the mask we are made to wear, something we do not need.   
Two bodies, four chairs.   
They could have just had two extra chairs, right? There was no point in trying to convince myself, I scrambled out of the room and ran to the next. The door was slightly ajar, I pushed on it, as it swung open I raised my lighter. A quick glance around the room showed it to be the Arcadians standard “boy’s room”; meaning that everything was blue, toy cars littered the floor and dinosaur pictures were hung on the walls. Two beds faced each other on opposite walls. There was no sign of them; it looked as if they had been plucked out of their room without any commotion. Something was wrong, there had to be something here.  
“Vrooom” I quickly shot around, and threw my bag at the intruder.   
Which was a toy car.   
What the hell was happening?   
What had I expected a bag full of canned beans to do to an Arcadian?  
The toy car had stopped making noises, so I assumed it was safe and approached. Never has someone approached a toy car with such caution. I kicked it with my shoe for good measure. I picked it up and pulled the roof off of the car. There was a mess of wires, batteries and a camera. Crap, I really needed to get out of here now; I gathered up my bag, gave a last cheeky wave to whoever was watching and ran as fast as my legs would carry me. As soon as I had walked out a thunderous noise erupted from the room, it was so loud, and it’d definitely wake the neighbours. Sprinting down the stairs I caught a glimpse of the street lights reflecting through the door’s peep hole. I hastily ran down the stairs. Opening the door I was struck with a harsh, cold wind and my lighter blew out. Swiftly closing the door I risked a glimpse back at the house as I ran onto the streets. I wish I hadn’t, ‘Arcadia’s Home for the Infected’ was plastered in gigantic letters above the doorway. I turned abruptly to check if anyone had seen me. No one was out; they had a curfew after all, but I could see the lights of the neighbouring buildings turn on. Taking this as a sign to haul ass and get the hell out of there, I turned and walked up the street and into an alley I knew would lead me home, and I ran.


	2. Lilith- Simon says

“The Object is in sight!” I yelled as I ran towards where I last saw the target. There was an arrangement of Arcadian’s grouped together in a neat circle. I slowed as I approached them. Where was The Object?

“Here!” I turned towards who had spoken. A cough, a laugh, they were making fun of me.  
“Where is The Object?” Headquarters would be wondering why I hadn’t reported back to them.   
One Arcadian shuffled forward, their mask was on a slight angle, and it took all I had to not chastise their lack of care for their appearance. We Arcadian’s had a reputation to uphold and younglings like this were ruining it for all of us. There had been more sightings of Laners  
in Arcadia than we had ever recorded before and it was punks like this that were encouraging it.   
The Arcadian spoke, “Uh, The Object has been displaced.” They were very informal; I would have to mention this to the Authority. I did a quick check and came to the conclusion, that yes, The Object had disappeared. I needed to return to Headquarters.   
“Affirmative, diffuse younglings.” I eyed them warily.  
“Yes! Hail Arcadia!” We shouted, we all put our left hands over our chests and raised it beside our heads, open palm, a symbol of peace and equality in our nation. As the Arcadian’s walked away, I turned to address my party.   
“The Object has escaped; we must return without them, we shall face imminent removal.”  
Turning we marched in single file out of the alley. My party would be interviewed and removed when we arrived back to Headquarters. It was standard procedure; I praised the Authority for their concern for all Arcadian’s.   
Leading my party down the clean streets of Arcadia gave me the wonderful feeling of content. Any other feeling was forbidden. Emotions sway judgements and alter age old ideals. Arcadia is built on a sustained strive for equality, and true equality can only be achieved when the emotions are extracted.   
‘Party277, report to Headquarters immediately.” The voice in my ear spoke clearly and concisely. Checking my surroundings, I chose the most efficient path and steered my party towards Headquarters. Exactly 18 minutes later I round the last corner, the Authority’s Headquarters looms over the entire street. It’s only 30 stories high and at the top is Arcadia’s beacon for equality; centred perfectly is a heart with roses wrapped around it, a sword is stabbed through its diagonal and fire erupts from the hearts trough.   
It’s the same symbol that’s on everything Arcadia has built. All Arcadians bear the symbol and wear it with utter confidence in their authoritarians. The building itself is old, bland and grey, small windows are placed in perfect intervals along the surface of the building, and the walls are beginning to crumble from the recent attacks by Laners, but the building still holds. Upon entering the building through the automatic glass doors- everyone is welcome! – we’re approached by an enforcer.   
“Party277, you shall proceed to floor 30 for interviewing and removal.” The enforcer then spun with the practiced elegance of a soldier and returned to where they had come from. I lead my party towards the elevator, once inside I pressed the button for level 30 and stared blankly at the elevator doors as we rose to the top level. They were made from some type of mirrored metal; it distorted and warped the figures in the reflection. I tilted my head slightly to the right, that one in the middle was me. We were all dressed in the same clothes, but I could still pick myself out from the bunch. I wondered what I would look like if I-   
‘DING!’ The doors opened to reveal a starkly white room, it smelled strongly of bleach and hand sanitiser. Beeping machines were prominent, there seemed to be easily more than a hundred, they covered the walls along with glass cabinets full of equipment I assumed was used for extraction. Long chairs were placed beside each machine and cabinet, with wires and tubes hanging from each side of the chair. As soon as I took my eyes away from the machines I noticed that my party and I were being examined by 6 Arcadians in lab coats.   
“Party277, reporting to level 30 for interviewing and removal” I stated.  
“Ah yes-” replied one of the Arcadians, “If you all would sit on a chair each, it would be most appreciated.”  
We take a seat.  
I wait for the Arcadians to begin the interview.  
“Ok, if you would just lift up your arms- yes, yes exactly like that and we’ll hook you up.”  
Two of the Arcadians start hooking the wires and tubes to my arms, legs, chest and finally four wires to each side of my head.   
“We shall now begin the interview.”  
A wild buzzing sound reaches my ears, my skin tingles. The sound gets louder, louder, I can’t hear myself think. The Arcadians don’t seem to be worried; therefore I should not be worried. ZAP! My whole body spasms. I lose control. My limbs are flailing, there’s a loud screaming in my ears. Without warning I’m hit with images, there’s someone that looks like me. I’m running alongside another person. Who are they? The image is spun and suddenly I can see their face, a face! Where is their mask?! I look down and I’m the other person, running. I reach up and touch my skin, why am I not wearing a mask? Where was I? I felt...happy? The other person stops abruptly and reaches out to me.   
I stare.   
“What are you doing?” They smile.   
“You always did have a weird thing about eye contact, c’mon, we have to be home before curfew or your mum will kill us!” They run ahead, I start to run as well; I begin to catch up, I reach my hand out and as soon as I’m about to grab hold of them I’m ripped out and back in the chair.   
The screaming, it’s me.   
“What was that!?” I yell to one of the Arcadians.   
“Your old life.” They state nonchalantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave feedback if you'd like!


	3. Helena- I put the hell in Helena

I briskly walked down the winding stone path, risking a glance back for the hundredth time that day. Passing through a cluster of trees, the entrance to my home becomes visible. The Lane is surrounded by a brick wall, albeit an old, broken brick wall, it’s not like we’re a holiday retreat. The entrance is guarded by two tall, rusty, steel gates that used to link together, but from age and weather they are now bent out of shape. On two pillars above the gates is a matching steel arch with intricate swirls, weaving around the words ‘Ivy Lane’.   
We live here, in the abandoned rubble of Ivy Lane. I wouldn’t necessarily say “live” more like “survive.” We hadn’t chosen to be here either, everyone in the Lane had been sent here by the Authority in Arcadia. I had been the first one they sent out into Ivy Lane. Apparently they had been trialling a new drug that would make every Arcadian able to breathe without a mask. My mum had been taking the drug since she’d found out she was pregnant; I heard they paid all the test mothers well. You’d hope you would be swimming in cash when you were putting your baby’s life a stake, but who am I to judge? It worked, and they didn’t like it. Probably ‘cause they realised that they themselves wouldn’t be able to breathe without the mask.   
This is where the problem arises.   
See, if this was like any other virus, when you isolated all the people infected they would die and the virus would in-turn die with them. The babies born from the drug-taking mothers, had kids and passed down the I-don’t-need-a-gas-mask-to-breathe gene, and the Authority didn’t like that. There was a blitz and the Authority started sending all kids they suspected to be drug babies to Ivy Lane. The civilians in Arcadia are kept in the dark, and they live wonderful, blank lives.  
Ivy Lane however was so bright.   
Originally ‘Ivy Lane’ had been an amusement park that ran in the 70’s, but then a nuclear reactor in Arcadia went off and blew the place to bits. But its faded colours still trumped all of Arcadia. The park consisted of a yellow and red Ferris wheel that towered over the entire Lane, on a good day you could even see it from inside the city. The Ferris wheel always made me feel better; it acted as a watchful eye over me. There was no point in Arcadia where the wheel couldn’t see you and I held onto that like a child does their mother. The metal beams of the wheel were seeing the last of their day; it was a surprise to us all that it had stood this long. Beside the wheel was a ruined tea-cup ride, it had no tea-cups since we used them as beds but the sentiment was still there.  
Tearing my gaze away, I followed the dirt path towards the carnival stalls. Last year there had been an influx in the amount of Laners staying with us. We had moved and set up camp in all the forgotten carnival stalls. They were nice, even cosy if you had more than 3 people huddled together all at once. As soon as I spotted the brilliant colours of the Laughing Clowns stall I smiled and breathed a sigh out through my nose, I was about to be in so much shit.  
“Helena, where the hell have you been!?” Cas yelled from her position of sitting cross-legged on top of the stall. She scrambled up as soon as she saw me, hoisting her gun over her shoulder. She strode towards me, she looked pissed.   
“Hey Cas, I just had to take a little detour, they just ran me ‘round a bit. But look! I got you-“  
“A little detour!? It’s Wednesday you- argh I can’t even talk to you right now!” Cas pulled at her hair and began to walk away.   
“No, hey hey, Cas, please don’t be angry with me, they nearly had me, I had to lose them before I came back! I couldn’t lead them here; you would’ve done the same thing!” She turned around so fast and walked right up to me.   
“No I wouldn’t have. You wanna’ know why? I’m the one who stays back and holds down the Lane, while you’re out there, having near death experiences and you come home and expect me to not be mad!?” Yeah, I had no excuse.  
“I brought beans as a peace offering?” I swung my bag around and opened the zip to show her my stash.   
“Yeah, you did you idiot. Next time you’re taking backup, okay?” Cas pulled me into a hug and I ruffled her hair.  
“Affirmative”, she laughed and mumbled a soft “shut up.”   
“You had dinner yet?” I asked as we walked through the maze of stalls towards ours.   
“Nah was waitin’ for you, glad I did now that you’ve brought home a mother-load of beans.”  
“Thanks, I try.”  
Once we reached our stall Cas started cooking the beans, it’d been so long since anyone in the Lane had eaten anything other than Arcadia’s leftovers. They were all gonna’ be so happy tomorrow when we told them the good news. I watched Cas cook the can of beans over our makeshift stove, we’d scavenged what we could and constructed it out of metal scraps and a bucket I’d found on a run a couple years back. It worked pretty well and was one of the only “luxury” items we owned.   
I broke myself out of my daydream- do you still call it a daydream if it’s at night? - and leant my head on my hand to watch Cas.  
Her vibrant red hair gleamed in the fire light as she cooked us dinner. She was all bright, blazing colours of red and orange, blue eyes and pale skin. Her clothes matched her in intensity; today she was wearing a fluorescent pink t-shirt and a pair of torn blue jeans. Cas was basically the complete opposite of me. I was all dark purple and black. My hair was short, black and dirty majority of the time, one time one of the kids had told me that my eyes were a spectacular colour of poo-brown, and I had much darker skin than Cas, I blame that on being stuck out in the sun all the time on runs in the city. The only way I could describe my clothing was with one word: black. I wore a black t-shirt, black jeans, black boots and a –you guessed it! - black leather jacket. When I was in Arcadia, wearing my colourful arrangement of black helped me to hide, but once I was back in the Lane it only made me stand out, like a clownfish in a sea of black.   
Cas dropped a tin of beans in front of my face and smiled at me when I jumped back startled.  
“Wakey wakey, beans and uh- more beans.”  
“You’re so clever, Cas.” I grinned at her and proceeded to inhale the can of beans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed please leave feedback!


	4. Lilith- Forget me not

“WHERE IS THE OBJECT?”   
“Why can’t I remember anything about them?!” I yelled.   
“WHERE IS THE OBJECT?”  
“Who was the person with me?!”  
“WHERE IS THE OBJECT?”  
“WHY CAN’T I REMEMBER ANYTHING?” I screamed. I didn’t understand, 30 minutes ago I knew nothing of anything prior to being an enforcer for the Authority and now I had all these memories; I didn’t know what to do.   
“WHERE IS THE OBJECT?” I started to cry, why would they have given me all these unneeded thoughts only to not tell me what they meant? There were too many thoughts rushing through my head, I couldn’t think straight, it was overwhelming and I suddenly realised why they took these feelings away.   
“I don’t know, I don’t know! They got away from me!” Like the other person in my memory.  
“You have failed your mission.” I strained against the wires. I just wanted to go home, to that person, to that life.   
“You will now be removed.” I started to cry harder.  
“No, no, no, no please! Don’t do anything, I won’t fail again!” I thrashed and screamed but nothing worked. They began to press buttons on the machines beside my head.   
“Please don’t do this! Just let me go, I promise I won’t come back!”   
“You make that promise every time, Lilith, but you always find your way back here.”  
The buzzing started again.   
“No, no, no, I can’t-” struggling I turned to stare into the eyes of the mask speaking to me. I stared with all my strength as the buzzing took over my body.   
Buzz,  
flash,  
blank.   
I opened my eyes to be greeted with a white room.   
“Welcome #2980 of Party277-” Looking around I found the source of the voice, a mask. “- you are to report to the Authority on level 10 immediately.”  
“Affirmative”, I replied and headed towards the elevator. Once inside I pressed the button for level 10 and stared blankly at the doors. They were made from some type of mirrored metal; from where I was standing I could not pick myself out from the crowd of Arcadians. I wondered which one I was, there were no discernible traits or differing pieces of clothing for me to use to narrow down myself.   
Level 10 was brown and cream coloured; neutral.   
It made me feel nothing.   
Crossing over to the front desk, I stood in front of it until I was addressed.   
“#2980 you are to proceed into the Authorities office now.”  
To my left there was a metal door, I approached it and knocked 3 times exactly.   
“Enter.” I did.   
Upon my entrance, the speaker rose from their chair to greet me and waved as a signal for me to sit.   
“I believe I can assume you know why you’re here?” The Authority asked.   
“Yes, I failed my mission; I did not acquire the Object.” I replied.   
“Correct, here at Arcadia we do not fail, you will be punished on the completion of your next mission.”  
“Yes, what is my mission?”  
“You will go to Ivy Lane and bring me back the Object, if you fail to complete your mission this time, you will be permanently removed from Arcadia.” The Authority sprung out of their chair as they said this and leant on their hands directly in front of me.   
“You will not fail”  
“I will not fail.” I repeated.   
“Leave, your mission starts-” they checked their watch “-as of now.”  
I quickly got out of my chair, stood back straight, bowed to the Authority and then exited the room.   
I took the stairs down.   
What had happened on level 30? Something was missing, or had I always felt like this? Blocking the thoughts from my head I ran down the stairs, skipping multiple steps at a time.   
I needed to find the Object and then everything would be neutral again. I knew where they would be, where they all would be. It was no secret to enforcers that Ivy Lane was full of wrong, disgusting things. I had only ever been there once before and in the midst of gun fire I didn’t really get a good look at it. Rounding the last set of stairs I strode towards the doors that led to level 3; the warehouse, it was full of every weapon. I would not fail this mission. Taking the elevator the rest of the way down, I then made my way onto the streets and began the walk to Ivy Lane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave feedback, it really helps!


	5. Helena- All hell breaks loose

I was on another run, but this time I had taken two newbie’s with me. Cas had told me to “show ‘em the ropes, Hel” and I felt like I was delivering on that statement. We had been out for about 4 hours and had been chased around the city more times than I could count; it was such a wonderful way to start training the kids. Ha. One upside was that I had gone back to that house with the bodies and gathered the rest of those cans of beans, we’d gone through the last bag-full so quick it was worrying. But this time I had lead the kids to a few more hotspots and we had found some more food-like things that we could live off for awhile.   
There were more enforcers out than usual, a side effect to my stunt the other day I guess; we had to tread carefully. Leading the kids around a back alley, I heard a loud bang.   
“Helena, what was that?” One of the kids asked me.   
“I don’t know, hey, why don’t you guys jump in that bin right there? It’s clean I promise, and I’ll be right back, okay?” I waited until both the kids were inside before turning and running back the way we had came. Goddammit, why couldn’t it be easy for once? Once I was near the opening of the alley I slowed down and crept against the wall, peeking around the edge of the wall I was glad I had left the kids in a bin. Which was something I had never thought I’d say.  
There were Laners out there. No one I knew, they all had their backs to me, and I couldn’t see any of their faces. They were all dressed in bright colours; no masks. Where were their masks? Why hadn’t they brought them? They were all sprawled in a heap in the middle of a circle of about 20 enforcers, guns all trained on them.   
One enforcer stepped forward and rested their gun against one of the Laners heads.  
“WHERE IS THE OBJECT?” They yelled. Crap that was what they’d called me the other day. Why were they looking for me? They hadn’t done this before.   
I could hear the Laner sobbing from here. She needed to stop crying, it was only going to make it worse.  
“I don’t know what that is, please, we haven’t taken anything!” I had to do something; they were after me, not them. I tried to manoeuvre myself around the corner to see them but I couldn’t without exposing myself and getting shot into oblivion.   
“WHERE IS THE OBJECT?” The enforcer yelled. “THEY ARE NOT AT THE LANE, WHERE ARE THEY?”  
More crying.   
“I don’t know!”   
Bang.  
The surrounding Laners bodies all slumped simultaneously against the ground. Their blood seeped through their neon clothes, turning them red.   
“Then you are no longer required.” The enforcer says, standing over the Laner.   
“I don’t know anything, please let me go!” I knew that voice. Cas, that was Cas.  
Shocked I leaned against the wall for support. What was I going to do?   
Fear gripped me but I stepped out into the street.   
“I wish you guys would address me directly, this whole “the Object” thing is getting old.” Yeah, when I was scared I defaulted back into sarcasm-Helena.  
“THE OBJECT!” All the enforcers turned to me; their dead eyes stared straight into my soul.   
Cas stared up at me with tears running down her face, and it blew all fears out of me; I had to get her out.  
“Yeah, cute nickname, thanks, but I’d be more flattered if you all would shoot yourselves.”  
“BRING THE OBJECT TO ME.” The enforcers all marched towards me and I let them grab me.   
“Let her go.” I spat at the enforcers mask.   
“You will not give me orders.” The enforcer replied.  
“Well, she’s gone anyway, so I guess that sucks for you.” She was, the spot where Cas once sat was empty and I was glad for it.   
“You shall undergo interviewing and removal, level 20.”  
“Ooooo scary.” I replied. In truth that did sound terrifying. Removal? What was that?  
“Scary indeed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is appreciated!


	6. Lilith- Dead end, please turn around

I dragged the Object to headquarters, they did not fight back and this confused me. Why weren’t they struggling? They were meant to fight back.   
They showed no signs of fighting but their hands continued to shake. So was this what the defection does to people?   
An Arcadian in a lab coat sat beside the Object pressing buttons on a machine.  
“We will now begin removal.”  
The buzzing started again and it jarred me. The memories came back.  
Who had been that person with me?  
Suddenly the mask became suffocating, the middle of the Objects face became distorted and warped. What was happening to her? Her face swirled around my eyes; the sides of the mask slowly began to close in. She was drifting, fading away from me in some cheap, makeshift chair while I stared.   
She made no sound but her fingers dug into the chair and her teeth started to clench.  
Buzz,   
Flash,  
Blank.  
As the machine reached a deafening level, she cast a quick glance at me. The sound suddenly stopped. Everything had stopped; she slumped into the chair.   
“Welcome #0001 to level 30” the Arcadian spoke. They then moved away to slide open a drawer and from it they pulled a single gas mask.   
She looked up at me with blank, dead eyes. The Arcadian turned towards the girl, raised the mask and slowly pushed it over her head. It covered the dark black mess of hair that was her. She was gone. This thing sitting in the chair was no longer the person who had been outside, mouthing off at enforcers and willing to throw herself in the face of danger. They had taken that, and made her into one of them. I slowly reached my hand up and gently touched the edge of my mask. There was nothing to distinguish that myself and the mask had once been two differing entities. Now I could barely feel the pressure of my own hand through the smooth rubber of the mask. When had they done that? Had it always been like that? I tried pulling the mask at the edges, oh god no, it was definitely attached. The Arcadian began mumbling to the girl, I couldn’t tell what they were saying; the muffled voice barely came through the mask.   
They had taken everything away from her, had they done that to me?  
The Arcadian spoke;  
“You will now report to level 10 for your first mission.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> END!  
> Please leave feedback if you enjoyed!


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